Flexible switch for roller conveyers



Feb. 16, 1954 R. H. METZGAR FLEXIBLE SWITCH FOR ROLLER CONVEYERS 2Sheets-Sheff(l l Filed Sept. 8, 1949 Feb. 16, 1954 R. H. METzGARFLEXIBLE SWITCH FOR ROLLER CONVEYERS Filed Sept. 8, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet2 la Il,

Patented Feb. 16, 1954 FLEXIBLE SWITCHA FOR ROLLER'. CONVEYERSRobertEMetzgar, Grand Rapids, Mich.,.assignor to Metzgar Company, Incl,

Grand Rapids,

Michga corporation of Michigan Application September 8, 1949,` SerialNo. 114,500

8` Claims. l.

In roller conveyors, conveyor switches are frequently desirable inyorder to be able-to connect one conveyor line with either of two ormoreother conveyor lines at will.` Thus someof the articles moving alongthe first conveyor may bepassed away in one directionV while othersproceed in a different direction.

One of ythemost satisfactorytypes of conveyor switches has involved aiiexible principle, the shifting of the switch beingaccomplished in partby. a` relative movement of each roller in the switch mechanism withrespect to the preceding roller. Thus for straightway delivery therollers wouldalbe parallelwliile for delivery to one side ofthesamerollers would be arranged in a curve andi would be properlydisposedwith their axes arranged radially about the' center of the curve.

The. present invention provides such a switch with-a moresimplestructure than has heretofore for flexible. switchesl having the highdependabilityof the present switch.

Additionalobjects` and` advantages of the invention will be apparentfrom the following description and` from the drawings, in which:

Figure 1. is a view looking down on a switch chosen for illustration of'this invention.

Fig.. 2"is a side elevation ofthe switch .seen in Fig. 1..

Fig; 3 is a bottom view of the switch shown in Fig. 1, rollers beingomitted forsimplicity.

Fig. 4. is a perspective view of the flexible blade which aligns therollers.

Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical sectionalview taken approximately on theline 5-5` or Fig. 2.

Fig. 6"'is` a similar view takenapproximately on the"1ine6'-6fof Fig; 2.

Although the law requires afull and exact description of at least oneform of the invention, such as that which follows, it is, of course, the

further "improvenientsg and the appended claims are intended toaccomplish thisfpurpose by particularly pointin'gout the parts,improvements or combinations'in which the inventive concepts are found.

The invention'hasxbeen illustrated as embodied in -a switch forconnecting conveyor A atwillwith conveyor'B or conveyor C. Ordinarilythe conveyor would slope downwardly from left to right sothatarticlesdelivered at higher points on con:- veyor A would roll down conveyor Aand roll onto conveyor B-*orconveyor C, depending on the positionofftheswitch; The switch is `operated merely by operating a lever H. The leverH shifts the various shifts-ble roll units l2 between the position shownin full lines in Fig. l and a position in which the end roller unit isapproximately parallel with fixed roller i3.

The switch unit includes a base formed mainly OfhOriZUntalbeams It? andIl and bed plate I8. As seen best inFig. 5, the beams i6 and il areformed of inwardly facing channel members. In the illustrated switch thebeam l is straight, while the beam il is curved. However, in athreewayswitch, designed to connect to a third conveyor'by making a righthandcurve, the beam I5 would be curved to the right as the beam il is curvedto the left.

The plate lil` may be secured between the beams l5 and Il" in anydesired manner. That at present preferred is to Weld spacer blocks 2! tothe inner faces of the beams as shown and to weld the plate lto theinner faces of blocks 2|. This leaves openings 22 through which anydebris from the traveling articles may drop in order to keep the bed I8clear.

Although the beams I il and I7 may be supported in any suitable manner,it is preferred that they are welded to connector beams 23 which areprovided with connector brackets 24 for coupling to similar brackets onthe conveyors A, i3 and C. Likewise, connector beams 26 are provided forcoupling with the opposite sides of conveyors B and C.

Fixedrollers |3,. 27 and 28 are carried by the various connector beamsas illustrated, any conventional bearings being provided. The rollers 21may conveniently be called receiving rollers and the rollers I 3` and 28delivery rollers.

Theswitching roller units l2 are constructed as seenbestin Fig. 5. Thuseach roller unit (two aligned rollers) is supported by a carriage or lowU.shaped frame which may include a bottom channel piece 3l and the endchannel pieces 33, each end channeI piece being welded to the bottompiece 3i. This carriage slides on plate i3. Extending between end pieces322 is bolt 33. The bolt passes through the end pieces 32 and :alsothrough spacer or Spanner tubes 3d, between which is positioned aflexible band 3S. Washers may `be provided between the tubes 3i and theband 36, and likewise between the tubes Si and the end pieces 32. Thedimensions are such that the band 3651s tightly squeezed so that it isheld rigidly perpendicular to the axis of the assembly. As seen best inFig. l, the band 36* extends through all of the shiftable switchrollers. As a mattei' of fact, it also extends to the end roll unit 3lwhich,

though resembling the shiftable roll units 2, is bolted to the bed plateI8 as by bolts 38 seen in dotted lines in Fig. 2.

The roller unit 38 at switch series is provided with pins or bolts 39extending through the bed plate I8 but loose enough to ride freely inslot 4I. A shift plate 42 is secured to the pins 39 below the bed plateI8 and is operated by shift lever II. Thus as end roller 38 is shiftedbetween the two illustrated positions, its angularity is correspondinglychanged as the pins 39 follow slot 4I. As this roll unit 38 shifts itshifts its end of the flexible band 36 accordingly and the band 36 inturn shifts the various intermediate roller units I2 so that theserollers assume a smooth curve, if the switch is to a deflected position.At the same time each roller is maintained in proper relative positionwith respect to the adjacent rollers.

' The shift lever II may be pivoted to bed plate I8 by a bolt 44,preferably located where the center lines of conveyors B and C meet.Shift plate 42 may be similarly secured to shift lever II by a bolt 48,or it may be welded to it, since slot 4I is concentric with bolt 44.

The shift lever II may be operated manually by handle 41 or by a powereddevice which may be remotely controlled. For example, the powered devicecould be a fluid cylinder or an electromagnetic device.

As the rollers reach either extreme position, the lower flange 49 of theend piece 32 passes under the upper flange of the main beams I6 and I'I,thus securely locking the roller units against excessive movement andensuring that the proper curvature is assumed by the conveyor as awhole.

The beams I6 and I1 are preferably welded to the various end brackets 23and 26, although the load is preferably transmitted mainly through therespective anges. Thus the upper ange I of beam I8 may rest on the lowerflanges 52 of brackets 23. In practice a thin spacer is positionedbetween these flanges so that the flanges 49 of the roller units I2 canpass under the anges 5I quite easily.

It is often desirable to provide side guides along the outside of curvesalong the roller conveyors so that if the conveyed articles approach thecurve at high speed they will be forced by the side guides to follow thecurve. Without such side guides such speed might be enough to cause thearticles to slide off the conveyor at the curve. In the case of a switchsuch as the present switch, the side guide for the curve cannot be inposition all of the time because it would obstruct movement of thearticles in the straight direction when desired. According to thepresent invention a side guide automatically shiftable with the switchis provided when desired.

The most practical Way of accomplishing this is to provide independentside guide segments on the successive roller units I2. A few suchsegments have been shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and a cross-section of one ofthem is shown in Fig. 5. Here it is seen that each of the side guidesegments or units may comprise a horizontal bar 56 curved outwardly atits ends so that articles will not catch on the ends. These bars may becarried by legs or rods 51 welded to the bars 53 and butt-welded to theupper flange 58 of end piece 32. One such segment may thus be carried byeach end piece 32 along the side of the switch which is the outside ofthe switch in the curved position. In case the switch is designed tocurve both to right and left, one of the side guide units the shiftableend of thel may be secured to each end piece 32 of the shiftable rollerunits.

Probably anyone skilled in the art would have no trouble selectingsuitable materials. For such aid as it might give, the following datafound satisfactory commercially are noted.

The flexible band 33 has been formed of 1/8" wide band steel 1 to 11/4"wide, sometimes 11/2".

The bed plate I8 has been formed of 10 gauge hot rolled sheet steel fornarrower conveyors (lll/2), but heavier stock to at least 1/4 plate iscontemplated for wider conveyors.

2" channel steel stock has been used for the beams I6 and I'I, brackets23, etc., end pieces 26 and bases 3|. Steel tube stock of O. D. and .032Wall thickness has been found satisfactory for spacer tubes 34 with Fetie bolts 33.

Experience indicates that slot 4I may not be a true arc, but in anyevent it will be cut to accommodate the movement which guide bolts 39are found to follow in a particular design to provide a radialdisposition of the associated roller unit 38.

With the present design of switch the two end roller units 31 and 38 areintended to be in parallel relation to the adjacent fixed rollers.Alternatively they could be made to assume the same angularity withrespect to adjacent fixed rollers as is assumed between adjacentshiftable rollers. This could be accomplished by a special shaping ofslot 4I and by permitting one or both ends of the roller unit 3l toslide a limited amount under the influence of flexible band 38.

Although wide rollers have been shown in the drawings, narrow rollers,more commonly called wheels, could be used instead. In that event thebearings for the wheels would be separated by a series of spacer orSpanner tubes, the flexible band 33 being clamped at the center withinthis series in much the same manner as is now illustrated. At present itis contemplated 4that in each roller unit I2 there would be a wheel ateach end, a wheel adjacent the flexible band 36 and a wheel at anintermediate position 'on each side.

In the illustrated form of the invention the bearing units do not needto be spaced apart by the spanner tubes 34 because they are spaced apartby the roller cylinders or jackets with which the bearing wheels have apress fit.

The conveyor may be supported in any suitable manner. For example, crossbraces 5B may be Welded to the brackets 23 and 26 to rest on the crossmembers of tripod supports.

Each conveyor section is preferably coupled to an adjacent conveyorsection by means of upwardly extending pins El rigidly associated withone conveyor section and extending up into a socket or eye 62 of theadjacent conveyor section. This provides a firm coupling. In fact, it iseven practical to placey two adjacent conveyor sections `at a slightangle/'with respect to one another by' using the coupling at only oneside, this coupling nevertheless providing a rm relationship between thetwo conveyor sections.

Although the switch unit illustrated will connect with a conveyorextending away at 45 degrecs from the entrance conveyor, it is apparentthat a fixed curved conveyor section could be connected to the switch todeliver to a conveyor extending away at any angle. It is particularlycommon to use a 45 degree curve to thus connect to a conveyor extendingat degrees from the entrance conveyor. f Any suitable means may beprovided for holdingthe switch in either position.v Forexample.,

operating lever Il may engage one or the other of latch lugs 66 (Fig.3), being urged toward plate I8 by spring 67.

I claim:

with the relatively xed and controlled roller units, said band extendingthrough the axes of the roller units at approximately a mid point in thelength of each roller unit.

2. A ilexible conveyor including a relatively xed roller unit, acontrolled roller unit, a plurailty of intermediate roller units betweenthe two, and a flat Flexible band of stiiT resilient material connectingthe intermediate roller units with each other and with the relativelyxed and controlled roller units, said band extending through the axes ofthe roller units at approximately a mid point in the length of eachroller unit, and each roller unit being secured to the band inperpendicular relation thereto.

3. A flexible conveyor including a relatively a controlled roller unit,a plurallty of intermediate roller units between the unit, each rollerunit being secured to the band in perpendicular relation thereto, and aslab-like supporting surface on which said roller units, and throughthem the band, are slidably supported.

5. A flexible conveyor including a relatively xed roller unit, acontrolled roller unit, a pluthe intermediate roller units, whereby theseries of intermediate roller units is wrapped about the beam to form aconveyor corresponding to its curvature.

controlled roller unit, a pluroller units between the a flat flexibleband of stiff resilient material connecting the intermediate rollerunits with each other and with the relatively fixed `and conroller unitbeing secured to the band in perpendicular relation thereto, and meansfor limiting the movement of the intermediate rollers in one directionto conform all of said shiftable rollers to a uniform curve whereby thecurve is spread through the entire series of intermediate rollers.

'7. A flexible conveyor including a relatively xed roller unit, acontrolled roller unit, a plurality of intermediate roller units betweenthe two, a flat flexible band of stiff resilient mateunit, roller unitbeing secured to tlre band in perpendicular relation thereto, aslab-like supporting surface on which said roller units, and

roller unit approaches the beam.

8. A exible conveyor including a relatively and, through it, of as theyare shifted.

ROBERT H. METZGAR.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Datei 1,206,305 Cowley Nov. 28, 1916 1,792,011 Haley et al Feb. 10,1931 1,808,134 Gotthardt et al. June 2, 1931 1,819,972 Resch Aug. 18,1931 2,105,922 Maltby Jan. 18, 1938 2,114,146 Klein et al Apr. 12, 19382,146,893 Gotthardt Feb. 14, 19139 2,384,959 Pearson Sept. 18, 1945

